Complete list of Cabinet ministers and portfolios

This is a list of current members of the Union Cabinet of the Government of India. All ministers are based in offices of their respective Union Ministries in New Delhi.

There are three categories of ministers, in descending order of rank:

Union Cabinet Minister: Senior minister in-charge of a ministry. ACabinet minister may also hold additional charges of other Ministries, where no other Cabinet minister is appointed

Minister of State (Independent Charge): With no overseeing Union Cabinet Minister for that portfolio

Minister of State (MoS): Junior minister with an overseeing Cabinet Minister, usually tasked with a specific responsibility in that ministry. For instance, an MoS in the Finance Ministry may only handle Taxation

Prime minister Manmohan Singh's attempt to project a younger profile of his government is reflected in the council of ministers sworn in.

Some of the highlights of the council of ministers:

The average age of the 33 Cabinet colleagues has come down to 63 years as against 66 years just a year ago.

The average age of the seven ministers of state with independent charge is around 59 years and that of the 38 ministers of state is 53 years.

Foreign minister S M Krishna and the PM himself are among the oldest in the Cabinet at 77 and 76, respectively. Agatha Sangma, daughter of former Speaker and NCP leader PA Sangma, is the youngest member of the council of ministers, being just 28 years old.

There are 10 septuagenarians in the ministry and almost an equal number approaching 70. While five of the ministers are in their 30s and a dozen in their 40s, most of the ministers are in the age group of 50-60.

The seven ministers of state with independent charge with Dinsha Patel, Sriprakash Jaiswal and Prithviraj Chauhan in their 60s have actually pushed the average of the group to 59 years as against 55 years in the previous government.

Early last year, Singh had expanded his ministry inducting "young blood" into the government. Then, the average age of his council of ministers had fallen by 3/4th of a year to 60 years. The average age of the ministry now stands at 57 years.

In the last ministry, the youthful faces included 37-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia and 34-year-old Jitin Prasada. This time, however, there are many more additions with 28-year-old Agatha Sangma leading the younger brigade. Sachin Pilot (31), Arvind Yadav (35) and Prateek P Patil (36) are the other new additions. But only six of the 79 members of the council of ministers are below 40.